Hero bar customer helped rescue dozens in California shooting

By Allison Klein

9 November 2018 — 8:41am

Thousand Oaks: In the aftermath of the shooting at a country music bar in southern California, in which 13 people were killed, survivors are starting to tell their stories of how they escaped through a window with the help of a fast-acting bar patron.

The bloodshed spread throughout the Borderline Bar & Grill, a popular nightspot in Thousand Oaks, an affluent city near Los Angeles.

When the gunman ran out of bullets and had to reload, Wennerstrom said he knew he had a moment to act. He saw someone grab a bar stool and throw it through a window, and he did the same thing, shattering the glass.

"Bar stools go through windows," he told ABC. "It works."

Then, he said, he and others pushed down the broken glass and helped about 30 or 35 people out.

"We just stood there basically forcing as many people out as fast as we could until we cleared everyone out and then we jumped out ourselves," he told the news station.

"Then it was just trying to collect everyone and push them down and out of sight and as far away as possible."

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Wennerstrom told CBS News he was a weekly regular at the Borderline Bar & Grill, and the other customers were like "family".

"We've known a lot of these people for upwards of 10, 15 years; we grew up with them," he said. "It's not just something where you get out of there and fend for yourself. It's 'What can I do to protect as many of my friends as possible.' "

Social media lit up with people thanking him and calling him a hero. One Twitter user wrote: "We need more Matt Wennerstroms in the world."

Another wrote, "Perfect example of 'Look for the helpers.' Matt Wennerstrom's ability to stay calm during such a horrific event is something to be admired. His demeanor after the fact is nothing but admirable strength. Kudos to him."

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Some argued his name should be spoken rather than the gunman's name.

Authorities later identified the gunman as Ian David Long, 28, a Marine veteran, who was found dead inside after apparently killing himself.

Earlier this year, Long was cleared by a mental-health specialist after an encounter with police.

Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said on Thursday morning that investigators had not been able to determine a motive.

The carnage added Thousand Oaks to the seemingly endless list of American cities at which a mass shooting has occurred.

This violence came just days after 11 people were gunned down in a Pittsburgh synagogue, months after 17 students and staff were massacred in a high school at Parkland, Florida, and a year after 84 people were killed in rampages in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The latest attack carried echoes and reminders of others. The descriptions of chaos inside the club were similar to those reported during the slaughter of 49 clubgoers at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016.

The rampage in Thousand Oaks occurred about 160 kilometres from a community centre where 14 were killed during a 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California.